David Eickhoff

Description

Kauila, Kauwila Rhamaceae Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands Endangered Oʻahu (Cultivated; Oʻahu form) Early Hawaiians used the heavy, durable wood of kauila to make farming tools, handles for stone chisels, pegs for repairing bowls, digging sticks (ʻōʻō), carrying poles, tall poles for banners, kāhili poles (royal feather stands, netting needles or shuttles, kapa beaters and grooving tools, prepping boards for kapa (lāʻau kahi wauke), war clubs, spears and daggers, and bait sticks for fishing. The wood was also crafted into musical instruments, such as hula sticks (ka lāʻau), and was the preferred wood for muscial bows called ʻūkēkē. Kauila wood was also fashioned into spears for the games of spear throwing (ʻōʻō ihe) and spear fencing (kaka lāʻau). The only use of the bow and arrows was for a sport called pana ʻiole (rat shoot). Thought the bow was made from an unidentified wood, the arrows were made of kō (sugarcane) and tipped with bone or kauila wood. The sport of sledding or hōlua was reserved for young men and women aliʻi. The sled runners were made from kauila. Kauila leaves and bark produce a bluish dye for kapa. Medicinally, kauila were used for kūhewa (stroke, as of heart failure, apoplexy). nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Colubrina_oppositifolia